Ivermectin and Leg Mites

[lutherpug]

I had a very difficult time finding any information on this topic so I wanted to put this out there as I've had some good early results with this-

I brought home a year old Salmon Favorelles rooster a few weeks ago as I wanted a rooster in my flock but I didn't want to raise any more chicks at the moment. I planned to keep him in quarantine for a couple of weeks as I have the room to do so but when I got him home I realized he had some pretty nasty looking sores on his legs and with some internet sleuthing I determined he almost certainly had scaly leg mites. An internet search of scaly leg mite treatments yielded more questions than answers as there seems to be no clear consensus on what to administer, in what quantity, and how often.

I opted to use Pour On Ivermectin for Cattle. I bought it at Tractor Supply. It is concentrated at 5mg/ml. The stated dosage for cattle is 1ml/22lbs. I administered it to my rooster by drawing .5ml up into a 1ml syringe and made sure I got all of the medicine in direct contact with the skin (not feathers) on the back of his neck. It has been about 10 days since I did this and the sores on his legs are significantly better. I'm confident enough about the results I've seen so far to introduce him to my hens this weekend.

A couple of thoughts-

I realize that .5ml is probably slightly more than I needed based on the cattle dosage. I was okay with assuming any potential risks associated with this. I didn't have any adverse side effects but your mileage may vary.

Some people won't be comfortable with this option because they want to treat things non chemically. In general I'm not wired that way and in this instance specifically I wanted to get this dealt with as quickly and effectively as possible. Because it was a rooster that I wasn't using for eggs or meat, I saw no reason to not go for broke right out of the gate.

I wouldn't have eaten eggs from an egg laying hen that I was treating with Ivermectin. I definitely would have consulted a vet about an appropriate withdrawal period after dosing.

In any event, this probably isn't the only effective method but I've been impressed with the results from what I've done so far. I'll update this thread if anything changes. I'll try to get some "after" pics when I start integration into the main coop this weekend. Fortunately, I have some "before" pics I snapped after I got him home.

Hope this helps someone!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi there.

A recent thread that discusses this and includes dosage information.

Your roosters' legs won't just look better automatically as it takes time for the damaged scales to fall off and be replaced by fresh ones underneath.

Can you post the before pics so we can see the sores you are talking about for learning purposes please?

Hope your introduction goes well!

 

[lutherpug]

Hi there.

A recent thread that discusses this and includes dosage information.

Your roosters' legs won't just look better automatically as it takes time for the damaged scales to fall off and be replaced by fresh ones underneath.

Can you post the before pics so we can see the sores you are talking about for learning purposes please?

Hope your introduction goes well!

Hey there, sorry for the late response-I've been down with bronchitis and haven't been on the computer for several days. I wish I could have found that thread-I searched high and low but didn't see anything recent.

In any event, I will snap some progress pics tonight. I gave him a bath this morning as he had a poopy bottom that I wanted to clean up. I'm debating giving it another week before I make introductions just to give everything more time to heal. I may dose him again as it has been 2 weeks since I did it initially.

They don't look completely healed by any means but they look significantly better than they did in that the open sores seen below look much better. Here are the before pics I snapped when I first brought him home.

 

[seminolewind]

I've always coated their legs daily with Vaseline to smother them with good results.

 

[lutherpug]

I've always coated their legs daily with Vaseline to smother them with good results.

I will probably do that here as well for the last week I keep him separated. I was just more comfortable with Ivermectin initially in this situation since I'm not using him for eggs or meat.

 

[casportpony]

I realize that .5ml is probably slightly more than I needed based on the cattle dosage. I was okay with assuming any potential risks associated with this. I didn't have any adverse side effects but your mileage may vary.

That is about what I use to treat a five pound hen.

 

[lutherpug]

@casportpony and @EggSighted4Life -

I'd like to ask both of you a follow up question. I just went out and looked at Otto, the rooster in question. His legs are better but not as good as I had originally thought. I've treated him twice, 2 weeks apart. If the scales are going to take months to improve in appearance, at what point should I be comfortable introducing him to my hens? He's been in quarantine for 3 weeks with no signs at all of any other illness. What would you do if he was your rooster?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hmm, that isn't what I'm *familiar* with SLM looking like.. maybe they were so annoying that he was pulling the scales off?? No personal experience, just research and discussion with my vet and he said it should look like growth coming out from under the scales. When my older hens have a scale that is lifting and comes off it always has a new fresh one underneath. Maybe it's just (raw) flesh under there though if it isn't a longer natural process. That looks like some type of feather mites or something?? I learn something new all the time. I would expect the Ivermectin to be effective against them all.

Have you had the opportunity to check skin below his vent area?

For me... with my property size and all... I consider quarantine to be in vain and therefore just won't bring birds to my place like that.

If I haven't seen any sneezing or bubbly eyes or heard any wheezing during periods of excitement... and with Marek's development taking 3 weeks from time of exposure before development of any symptoms is even really possible... 4 weeks is a good minimum.

And good for you for going through the effort, both to quarantine and also to give a rooster a home!

 

[lutherpug]

Hmm, that isn't what I'm *familiar* with SLM looking like.. maybe they were so annoying that he was pulling the scales off?? No personal experience, just research and discussion with my vet and he said it should look like growth coming out from under the scales. When my older hens have a scale that is lifting and comes off it always has a new fresh one underneath. Maybe it's just (raw) flesh under there though if it isn't a longer natural process. That looks like some type of feather mites or something?? I learn something new all the time. I would expect the Ivermectin to be effective against them all.

Have you had the opportunity to check skin below his vent area?

For me... with my property size and all... I consider quarantine to be in vain and therefore just won't bring birds to my place like that.

If I haven't seen any sneezing or bubbly eyes or heard any wheezing during periods of excitement... and with Marek's development taking 3 weeks from time of exposure before development of any symptoms is even really possible... 4 weeks is a good minimum.

And good for you for going through the effort, both to quarantine and also to give a rooster a home!

Yeah, I just don't know what to do with him. I gave him a bath earlier as he had a good deal of poop stuck to the feathers around his backside... I didn't see anything on his vent area but I mostly had it submerged in water. I have Permethrin dust on hand-maybe I'll give him a good dusting with that tomorrow. I really wish I would have noticed the leg sores before I brought him home. I hate to cull him-he was a good rooster at his previous home, he is the breed I wanted, and I feel responsible because I brought him here. All that said, I have a flock of 23 perfectly healthy hens and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks. I'm torn about what to do.